1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to an optical connector, and more particularly to an optical connector having improved alignment structure.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, with increasing speed and capacity of data communication, the need is further rising for an optical fiber communication technology using an optical connector. A typical optical connector for coupling light from an optical fiber to an opto-electronic device (OED) or coupling light from an OED to an optical fiber comprises a lens array facing the OED so as to couple the light from or to the OED. To ensure the transmission of the light efficiently, the lens array must be aligned to the OED precisely, while a small misalignment can cause serious efficiency losses or deviation in the optical path. Thus, the alignment between the lens array and the OED is very important and critical. Active alignment techniques are often used to align the lens array to the OED, where the OED is activated and the position of the lens array is adjusted while the system is running so as to find the ideal position and then fix the lens array thereon. However the process said above requires special equipments and can be very expensive, and the process can be very time consuming.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,262,297 issued to Castagna et al. on Sep. 11, 2012 discloses a passive alignment technique, where an optical subassembly comprises a substrate having at least one perceptible alignment feature provided in a predetermined spatial relationship to an OED, and a lens body is adjusted and then secured to the substrate when the image of the substrate's alignment feature appears aligned relative to a viewing surface. Corresponding to the active alignment technique said above, the passive alignment technique without the need of the special equipment and can be cost down. However the process is still time consuming.
In view of the above, an improved optical connector is desired to overcome the problems mentioned above.